Four Wallace baseball players making fans off the field

9/14/2015

Dothan, Ala. – Wallace Community College baseball players B.J. White, Austin Garrett, Mason Robinson and Devante Dixon stopped to help change a tire last week, and the photo on Facebook is getting plenty of positive attention for the four student athletes, as well as the team.
Austin and Devante, both freshman at Wallace Community College, were leaving baseball practice on Wednesday, Aug. 26. The two were waiting to turn out of the Dothan Campus when they saw a woman waving her arms.
The woman had just picked up her daughter after class at the Dothan Campus. Also along for the ride was another daughter and a 4-month-old grandson. They had been stranded for about 45 minutes with a flat tire. The woman had a jack and a spare, but the jack failed, and it was now stuck under the car.
“She was upset because we were the only ones who stopped, and so many people drove by,” Devante said.
Devante had a small jack in his car, but it wasn’t heavy enough to lift the woman’s car. A phone call to Assistant Baseball Coach Phillip Hurst sent sophomores and roommates B.J. White and Mason Robinson to assist with a heavier jack.
The four Govs aren’t experts at changing tires, but “we kind of knew how, and we figured it out,” Mason said.
“We couldn’t leave them hanging. It would have felt wrong,” Mason said. “She had a little baby with her.” The others agreed.
The four players didn’t catch the woman’s name, but they said she was extremely grateful.
“She said she would get her family and friends out to support us,” Mason said. “She said she would get a bunch of people to come cheer for us.”
Enter the internet and the power of social media.
Last Wednesday, Nekita Randall of Dothan snapped a photograph as four young men worked to get the spare tire on her maroon Ford Fusion.
She had just picked her daughter up from class, and heard the “thump” of a flat tire just before she pulled onto Napier Field Road. When her jack failed, she tried waving for someone to stop. When Austin and Devonte pulled over to see what was wrong, she saw they were leaving practice. They are probably hot and tired, she thought.
“They were such gentlemen. They played with my 4-month-old grandson and offered to get some water,” she said. “They could have easily went on, but they stopped.”
Impressed with the four young men and their willingness to help, she posted the photo on Facebook of the Wallace baseball team members changing her tire.
“…Several members of the Wallace Community College baseball team stopped to help us after my jack failed,” it read. The hashtag, a way to tag social media posts with categories, was “#realgentlemen.”
“We were talking about it all night, the next day, to anybody who would listen,” she said. “They were great, and I was just so proud of them, being young guys. This generation can be such a selfish generation.”
Nekita’s friend Todd Burchett saw the picture and insisted that it should be shared. He thought it was a great example of young adults going out of their way to help others.
“Todd was really pushing for people to forward it on Facebook and let everybody know that there are people who want to help,” she said.
Nekita and her family were so grateful, they are indeed making plans to support. They plan to attend Wallace baseball games and even make posters.
“We most definitely are coming – they’re going to see us again.”
Assistant Coach Phillip Hurst said, “We’re very proud of the young men they are becoming and it shows a lot of character to stop in the 100-degree heat to help someone.”
“We’re not here to make them just good baseball players, but to make them good men.”

Wallace Community College affords equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for admission or employment regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, or disability. WCC will make reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.